Youth will finally be served for Pawtucket’s starting rotation

PAWTUCKET — It’s not that anyone was receiving AARP mailings in the McCoy Stadium clubhouse last season.

PAWTUCKET — It’s not that anyone was receiving AARP mailings in the McCoy Stadium clubhouse last season. But if the ideal Triple-A rotation is a mix of veterans with experience and youngsters on the way up, the Pawtucket Red Sox were missing a critical ingredient — and that affects the way the parent-club Red Sox have to operate.

Of the eight pitchers who made 10 or more starts for Triple-A Pawtucket last season, the since-departed Zach Stewart was the only one younger than 28. Arnie Beyeler spent most of last season sending out to the mound veteran pitchers such as Brandon Duckworth, Nelson Figueroa, Justin Germano and Doug Mathis. No pitcher under the age of 25 made more than 10 starts for the PawSox.

It made for a strong Triple-A team and an eventual Governors’ Cup champion, but it didn’t make for what a Triple-A roster is supposed to be — namely, a source of reinforcements for the major-league team. Not since the start of the working relationship between Boston and Pawtucket in 1970 had the PawSox gone through a season without a pitcher under the age of 25 making at least 10 starts — not until 2012, that is.

All of that could be flipped on its head this year.

“We’ll see how things shake out in spring training, but there are some guys who are knocking on that door to get to Pawtucket and make an impact here and, hopefully, at the next level,” Boston farm director Ben Crockett said. “At Triple-A, you do need a bit of a portfolio of sorts, to have some guys with experience who can provide major-league depth and to have a group of younger players also who are continuing to progress forward and you hope will be able to provide that support and depth as soon as possible.”

As it stands now, Chris Hernandez joins Rubby De La Rosa and Allen Webster — both obtained in the Adrian Gonzalez trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers — as near-locks to start the season in the Pawtucket rotation. Hernandez turned 24 in December. De La Rosa will turn 24 in March. Webster will turn 23 in February.

By the middle of the season — if not sooner — those three could be joined by Drake Britton and Brandon Workman. Britton will turn 24 in May, while Workman will turn 25 in August. All five could be eventually joined by Anthony Ranaudo, who will turn 24 in September. It’s unlikely but not impossible that top prospect Matt Barnes pitches his way to Triple-A by the end of the season — and if not then, certainly by the following season, when he’ll still just be turning 24.

For that reason, don’t expect Boston to stock up on the Duckworths and Figueroas of the world as depth starters the way they have in the past. The Red Sox have already added minor-league free agent Terry Doyle and trade acquisition Graham Godfrey. Both are capable Triple-A starting pitchers who can make starts for new PawSox manager Gary DiSarcina until Britton and Workman arrive.

Any other game started by the likes of Billy Buckner, Aaron Cook or Ross Ohlendorf is a start not made by a pitcher with the potential to help Boston at the major-league level in the future.

“We can sort of see a Pawtucket rotation on paper right now, but I wouldn’t rule out bringing someone in, someone who has more experience,” Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington said. “We’ll see if we find the right guy and he thinks we’re the right team. But we are in a better position relative to 12 months ago in terms of internal options that are closer to being true major-league depth.”

The development of young pitchers — De La Rosa and Webster in particular — has been an implicit centerpiece of the Cherington approach to the offseason. Boston didn’t get involved on Zack Greinke, Edwin Jackson or Anibal Sanchez, three free agents who signed lucrative long-term deals. The Red Sox instead signed veteran Ryan Dempster to the type of two-year deal that makes him — yes, it’s OK to say it — a bridge to a wave of pitching prospects climbing into the upper level of the minor leagues.

Pawtucket never had a chance to send reinforcements to the major leagues last season. Duckworth, Figueroa, Mathis and their counterparts were all merely place-holders to fill out a Triple-A rotation. De La Rosa, Hernandez and Webster represent the start of what Boston hopes to be a wave of change in the PawSox rotation.